Hey, it’s Wednesday! Another beautiful day. We’re up and drinking green tea (started with coffee though, of course) and eating yummy pastries from next door. Also watching TV, although most of it is just strange. A samurai movie came on which we watched a little of and a really interesting movie about a woman who practiced and practiced and got really good at throwing dice from a cup in some sort of gambling game and she played against all these hot shots and always won until she ran up against another woman and then it looked like she lost or something. It’s all japanese so who knows what exactly was going on, but it was still interesting and at least we could get the gist of it. We are making a lazy day of today, since we have nothing pressing to do until this evening when we go to meet Peter in Kutsatu. He said I should bring my training clothes and that I might get to train in iai with him! That would be soooo cool, my first class in iaido, in Japan! I hope I can, he seemed to think it would be alright so we’ll just have to see. Don’t want to get my hopes up too high.
Well, enough of this lolly-gagging around! We decide to head back down to Dotombori and shop. We catch the red line subway down to Namba and get out and try to decide which exit to take to get closest to Dontombori. A gentleman stops and helps us and walks us right to the street to walk down that will turn into the main part of Dontombori. He chats with us (his english is very good) and tells us he is a psychiatrist at a local hospital and to call him if we need any help and gives us his card. I hope he meant general help, not psychiatric help!
We get to the main drag and start shopping. We are finding all sorts of neat stuff. I have my heart set on finding a t-shirt with something funny in english (they put english sayings on t-shirts but don’t know exactly what they mean so they can come out really funny in english. I’m sure some of our tshirts with japanese or other foreign languages on them say equally as silly things). I’m not having much luck though. The only t-shirts we’ve found was one that had a long description of a weird fish that gets in your guts and does bad things and I can’t remember what all it said. It was very strange and funny, but a little dark. They also only had it in too-small sizes so that solves whether or not to buy it. Oh, we did see another t-shirt in a very respectable store that said "No F*cking", but that was a little too blunt… We found a prize though, a harley-davidson t-shirt that had Japan on it. Someone that Sean works with has a brother who collects Harley t-shirts from all over and has one from most of the states, but really wanted some exotic ones. She asked Sean to look for one for her, but didn’t figure we’d find one. Her brother will be so surprised! We got the largest they had, which was a Large (and not that large). I guess the people who ride Harleys in Japan aren’t quite as big as they are around here!
I’d also had my heart set on some Pokemon (Pocket Monster) playing cards and had been looking and looking for them and finally found some. Of course, now I’m kicking myself for not buying a few more, but isn't that always the case. Let’s see, what else did we get? I can’t remember now. But we had a great time shopping and people-watching. Sean found a surfboard store and went in to browse. The boards were outrageously expensive! Like a couple thousand dollars apiece. He talked to the guy in the store about surfing and he told him some places to go. He was also amazed at the prices of boards here. Sean and Nat got a Robert August board for about $600 and that blew his mind. While Sean was in the store, I walked around the block and found this amazing little shinto shrine with a whole bunch of cats laying around it in the sun. It was a pretty and unexpected find. A little pocket of peace just off the hustle-bustle of Dontombori. What a place of contrasts Japan is.
We were getting hungry and cranky and having a hard time finding a place to eat that Sean could eat and that I wanted to eat and that wasn’t too expensive so we ended up in MacDonald’s. Sean just had biggie fries, but it took the edge off and was easy and cheap. It was nice to sit down.
Then we headed back to the hotel to rest and get ready for the big night. A little TV and a rest later, we head out for Kusatsu. It’s the same train as the one to Kyoto so it was easy to find. We checked with a few people though to make sure it went all the way to Kusatsu. We always check right before getting on and then after we are on the train. A simple "Kusatsu?" and pointing the direction we are heading seems to work.
We left about 5:45pm (meant to leave earlier but missed the train) and we were smack dab in the middle of rush hour. The train was wall to wall people and I mean packed! We were standing and squished in like sardines in a can. We thought it might get better at the Shin-Osaka stop, but a lot more people got on than got off so it was even worse. Finally at Kyoto some people got off and a gentleman offered me a seat. Several stops later it got uncrowded enough that Sean could sit down and the gentleman offered to trade seats with Sean so he could sit next to me. Even though we’d left later than planned, we got to Kusatsu with time to spare. We were not sure exactly where Peter planned to meet us and there was an East and a West exit so we picked one (the East I think) and Sean waited up at the top and I waited on the street in case Peter came by in his car. Peter found Sean and so he motioned me to come up and we all got in Peter’s car and away we went. It’s funny, for all the Japanese are pretty orderly and almost never jaywalk and all, they will park anywhere! Doesn’t matter if it is a legal parking place as long as it works, it will do. I guess parking must be a really big problem. Everyone does it so it’s no big deal. It’s like jaywalking here, I guess.
We get to the dojo and walk in. What
a cool place! It’s a big, old gymnasium looking building, but with a real
japanese feel to it with wall hangings and half the dojo is wooden floor
and the other half is mats. Off to one side of the matted area is a little
stand with a teapot and teacups and some candy and a woman sitting there.
I’m not sure who she was, but she was involved in the running of the dojo
in some capacity. When we walked in, there was a large group practicing
Kendo. Kendo is fascinating and looks like a heck of a lot of fun! You
dress up in a hakama (the long dark split skirt like we wear in aikido)
and a gi top and then wear this amazing looking armor and whack at each
other with bamboo shinai (practice swords) and get points when you hit
someone on a legal spot. I’m not sure what all the legal spots are but
I’m pretty sure the top of the head, the throat, the wrists and somewhere
in the middle of the body are all legal. Of course, these spots are covered
by armor so it is safe. The armor consists of a full lacquer looking helmet
with a full mesh face plate and flaps that cover the neck and shoulders,
a breastplate with an armored skirt, gauntlets for the hands/arms and maybe
leg guards – I can’t remember. For some reason the women mostly wore white
gi tops and red lacquer armor and the men wore dark gi tops and dark armor.
It’s not a rule or anything, just the fashion or something. I guess in
iaido women usually wear white gi tops and men wear dark ones (usually
blue) too, but again, there are no rules and it doesn’t matter.
It was a riot with all the people kiai-ing
(yelling) and running at each other and hitting. Sean was thoroughly taken
by it and wants desperately to train in Kendo. Unfortunately the nearest
Kendo dojos appear to be in Chicago so I guess that’s going to have to
wait. But someday… I have to say that you would get one heck of a workout
doing kendo. It’s guaranteed to work up a sweat! I don’t mean to imply
that it is not good and sincere training by any means, just that it looks
fun too!
The whole dojo was a study in organized chaos. So much different than everything I’d been led to believe about a japanese dojo. People here try to be "japanese" and act really formal and stuffy and stand-offish and "no talking" and it was not at all like that in this dojo. Everyone was friendly and the senseis took a real hands-on approach and everyone practiced how they wanted to (either as part of a larger group who were being led by one of the sensei or individually working on something) and there was one sensei who led a large group and 2 others who walked around and worked with people individually. People talked and the feeling in the dojo was very pleasant and light-spirited. Not all all what I’d been led to believe, nor even like a lot of the dojos in the US. Funny that…
After the Kendo class got over, the students lined up in front of the sensei and he (I guess) told them some training points and then anyone who wanted went over to the tea stand and had tea and a sweet. I think Sean and Jake (another midwesterner who was there on a scholastic program) went and had some tea and candy with them. I was busy with Peter making sure it was OK to train with them and giving our present to the sensei (we brought a box of Esther Price candy which is made near us and is really, really yummy candy) and getting dressed for class. Everyone just changed on the mats. Good thing I wore my undershirt! Actually, I left my jeans on too since they were stretch jeans and I was wearing my brand new hakama that is indigo-dyed and hadn’t been washed yet so it was bleeding blue all over the place. Better to let my jeans get a little bluer than to end up looking like a smurf. I had bright blue hands as it was, just from putting it on.
Peter showed me how to tie the hakama iai-style (which is different from how we tie it in aikido) and got me all strapped in and got an iaito (training sword) for me to use. There was another japanese guy there who trained in aikido too. He asked Peter what rank we were and he told him nikkyu or ikkyu (I can’t remember which, but we are ikkyu) and the guy nodded. And then Peter said, but it’s different in America, they’ve been training for 5 years and the guy said "oh, sandan!" (or maybe it was nidan, anyway, it was a few dans ie: black belts up the rank). People attain black belt must quicker in Japan than they do in the US. That made us feel good. :^) So I get the iaito and Peter works with me to teach me the basic etiquette and then on the first form (mae something-or-another, anyway, a kneeling forward cut). It’s interesting. You learn how to draw the sword, cut, flick the "blood" off your blade and sheathe your sword again. It’s very detailed and exacting. I was concentrating like no-get-out! Then after I’d practiced a little bit, the sensei came over and watched and had me work on overhand cuts and sideways cuts. The sideways cuts were killers. The sword gets amazing heavy really quickly when you are holding it in one hand and cutting, over and over again. I almost thought my wrist would give out but sensei was watching so I managed to get thru it. Then we practiced some more and Peter went off to train on something else and I continued to practice the first form and the sensei came over again and worked with me a lot. He would show me a particular bit and then correct something I was doing and then have me do it again. Peter asked me what sensei taught me because he said that after he worked with me I looked a million times better. I don’t know what exactly he did, but I was happy to hear that. I just followed what he did and tried to do it the way he showed me. Of course, I don’t speak Japanese and he didn’t speak English, but it just doesn’t really matter in a dojo. Peter later told me that one of the senseis said that I learn and follow very well. That made me feel even better!
Did I mention that there were two 7th dan and one 8th dan senseis teaching?! It was amazing! And the 8th dan was leading the beginner class and all the senseis were directly working with everyone. Like I said, a lot different than here, where someone of that rank would probably consider themselves above that. The 8th dan’s name was Masao Omori Sensei and he was 89. One of the 7th dan’s was Kiyama Sensei and he was 75. I believe it was his dojo. I’m not sure who the other 7th dan was. Wow, what a way to start learning iai! The style taught was Muso Jikiden Eishi Ryu.
After class, the sensei went to a cabinet and took out two boxes and gave them to Sean and I. When we opened them, they were beautiful pottery tea cups! Can you believe it? I had the privilege of training at their dojo and they are giving us presents! And the idea of paying a mat fee never even was mentioned. Here, you pay to go to another dojo. There, they give you presents! The only important thing was to bring a present of something, preferably that was made where you live or is specific to your local area for the sensei. Presents are important. They don’t have to be big things, but it is the idea of something that you brought from where you live that counts.
While I was training, Sean had been watching and operating Peter’s camcorder that he had brought and set up to record class. After the class, Peter gave me the tape! I was so happy. I have the whole class on videotape! And since our camcorder broke on the trip, I had no way of recording it myself. We need to get the tape transferred to VHS so we can watch it. The tape Peter made was Hi-8mm. But Sean is going to talk to someone he knows at channel 10 at the Library and see if they will transfer it for us. If not, I’ll scout around until I find someone with a Hi-8mm camcorder to transfer it for us. I can’t wait to see it!
So after class Sean, Jake and I sat down and had tea and a sweet with sensei. Then I got changed and we headed out. Boy did I feel good! What a perfect end to the last full day in Japan (and the last full day of our whole vacation). Peter wanted to stop and grab a bite with us but it was getting late and we needed to get back so we just stopped at a convenience store and bought snacks. Peter bought me a little treat of 3 of the rice paste balls on a stick covered with a sweet soy sauce. Yum! Later when Sean and I got home, Sean bought some of the sweet soy sauce from an oriental grocery store here. Now if we can just figure out how you make the rice paste balls!
Peter took us to the train station and made sure we got on the right train and we said our last goodbyes and headed off. It was a nice, relaxing train ride back and I was still floating on air from my class. We got into Osaka about 11 or so and headed to the hotel for the night. A perfect end to a perfect vacation.